Southern Fried Pickle
A Southern sampler on a bun: Angus beef, fried pickle rounds, bacon, American cheese, Memphis slaw and B21 sauce. The fried pickles bring salt, sourness and crunch, and the slaw adds a cool, sweet note that stops it from being too heavy, though at over a thousand calories it is heavy anyway. One of the more distinctive burgers on the menu.
The story
Fried pickles are younger than most people assume. The first known recipe, for “French Fried Pickles” made with sweet pickle slices and pancake mix, was printed in the Oakland Tribune in November 1962. The version the South adopted came a year later from Bernell “Fatman” Austin, who fried dill pickles at the Duchess Drive-In in Atkins, Arkansas, in 1963 and served them with ketchup, since ranch dressing was not yet around. His recipe is still a family secret, used once a year at the Atkins Picklefest each May.
What’s inside
Make it at home
There is no copycat of the Southern Fried Pickle yet. Until there is, these recipes on the site come closest to it, judged by what goes into the bun.
- Shares beef, bacon and cheese
Cheeseburger Wellington - Shares beef, bacon and cheese
McDonald's Bacon McDouble (Copycat) - Shares beef, bacon and cheeseJelly Doughnut Burger
- Shares beef, bacon and cheese
Elvis Luther Burger
Variations
The Southern Fried Pickle, taken somewhere it was never meant to go.Similar burgers at other chains
Built around the same things as the Southern Fried Pickle.- Honest Burgers · beef, bacon and cheese
SignatureHonest - Byron · beef, bacon and cheese
SignatureByron - Krystal · beef, bacon and cheese
Bacon Cheese Krystal - Grill'd · beef, bacon and cheese
Crispy Bacon & Cheese
More from Burger 21
About Burger 21
Burger 21 comes from Tampa and from a family that already knew how to franchise a restaurant. Mark and Arlene Johnston were behind The Melting Pot, the fondue chain Mark and his brother Mike had grown from a single franchise in Tallahassee into a national brand, and in November 2009 they started a burger concept under the same management company, Front Burner Brands. The first restaurant opened in Tampa in 2010 and the first franchise deals, for Orlando, followed in 2012.
A small chain: restaurants around Tampa, in northern Virginia, Georgia, Charlotte and Albuquerque, plus airport branches and a food truck.
Not affiliated with Burger 21. Trademarks belong to their owners. The photo shows my home version, not the restaurant’s product.